Manhattan City Commission Reviews Possible Water Agreement

The Manhattan city commission visited the topic of a new water service agreement with Pottawatomie county during Tuesday night’s work session.

The proposed project would build up infrastructure along the east side of Manhattan around Highway 24 and the Blue Township Area to provide a limited amount of city water to the area to help with development and sustainment.

The project would sell water to the Pottawatomie county rural water district one for at 200% of the in city rate for the short term during construction of the project, which would switch to a 125% rate after work is completed.

City officials say the 200% rate is to provide an incentive for their partners to finish the water project in a timely manner.

The new water system would be comprised of a new 1,000,000 gallon water tower, and pipeline infrastructure improvements in the area. City staff say the project will not cause a shortage within the city as projections into the year 2030 show the maximum of 24 million gallons per day load. The new water plant is able to process 30 million gallons per day with its current capacity.

The commission applauded the city staff’s efforts, and plans to revisit the plan at a later date.